Bound To The Ice Dragon King
Chapter 206: Return my core

Chapter 206: Return my core

Draven was left with no choice but to take his wife with him to Birhhan. His mission was to check how the spell was cast and the situation in the human world. The message that arrived to king Henry was that the people of Birhhan had left while most of them had died. He didn’t know what he would find there which was why he hadn’t wanted to take Rhea, but now that she had insisted, he had to take her with him.

Before departing, Draven transformed into his dragon form and issued a final warning to his wife, "You must stay by my side at all times. Don’t attempt to protect me, just focus on keeping yourself safe. Do you understand?" he asked.

Rhea positioned herself on his back and obediently nodded, assuring him, "Yes, I will stick with you." While patting his neck to provide reassurance. Meanwhile, she secretly intended to safeguard him from any danger. He was her only family now, and she would go to any great lengths to ensure his safety.

As Draven soared into the horizon, the wind howled around them, carrying them swiftly towards the human realm. Rhea, perched atop her husband, gazed downward. The lands below seemed barren and scarred, with demolished houses and thick, ominous black smoke rising from the desolation. Her heart sank at th sight of the human realm. No matter how much the people of Birhhan had hurt her, she would never wish them bad.

"Draven," she spoke above the rushing wind, "it’s heartbreaking to see what has befallen these lands. So many lives may have been lost. It looks nothing like how I remember it to be."

His dragon form rumbled in agreement, the vibrations resonating through Rhea.

As they approached Birhhan capital city, black swirling smoke enveloped the city and swirled around. It wasn’t a mere smoke but a malevolent magic spell, spreading like a sinister shroud. Draven slowed down his flight as he gazed down at the ominous black smoke.

"Something feels strange about that smoke, we should..." Draven hadn’t finished his statement when he suddenly felt his mighty wings begin to falter. He could no longer keep himself in the sky. Panic laced his voice as he urged Rhea, "Hold on tight, some invisible power is pulling me down!"

In a heart-stopping moment, Draven started to plummet from the sky. Rhea clung desperately to his neck, fear gripped her as they began to fall to the ground in full speed. Yet, in the final meters of descent, Draven suddenly vanished from beneath her. Alone and falling through the swirling black magic, Rhea braced herself for impact, she used her ice magic to balance herself and landed on her feet with a catlike grace.

Rhea straightened up and desperately looked around in search of Draven. "Draven!" She yelled into the clearing black smoke, but there was no reply or any signs of her husband. Rhea felt her heart grip with fear and anxiety when she walked around and didn’t find Draven. She glanced up and noticed she was in the middle of the black spell that had been cast in the capital.

To Rhea’s surprise, she was standing exactly close to the Villden mansion, that now looked completely demolished. She remembered Azure had told her that he had taken her family away to safety. Did he know this was going to happen?

As Rhea was looking around, she felt a hand suddenly touch her shoulder. She jumped in fright and swirled around only to find Draven smiling down at her with his blue eyes slightly appearing darker than usual.

"Were you looking for me, little one?" He asked with the corner of his lips pulled up into a smirk.

Rhea felt something strange about Draven, but she couldn’t pinpoint the strange thing about him. However, she didn’t reply to his question and stared into his eyes as if searching for something.

"What’s wrong?" He asked as he reached out to touch her but Rhea subconsciously took a step back to avoid his hand.

Draven frowned at her actions, but before he could say anything, his attention was drawn to something behind her. His blue eyes widened in alarm as he spotted a massive burning arrow hurtling towards Rhea. In a split second, he reached out and pulled her away from the arrow, wrapping his arms protectively around her.

Still holding her in his embrace, Draven used his ice powers to strike down the spell that had released the flame arrow.

As Rhea felt the security of Draven’s embrace and breathed in his familiar masculine scent, she finally relaxed. "Where did you land on? I couldn’t find you," she said, slipping her arms around his waist and holding him tightly.

"I landed on the other side," he replied, running his hand soothingly up and down her back. "But why did you avoid me just now?" His voice had a hint of darkness, as if he was struggling to control his anger.

Rhea pushed away slightly, looking up at him. "It’s nothing. I just had this strange feeling that it wasn’t really you," she explained, smiling. "Don’t mind my silly actions. How do we break out of this spell now?" She glanced around at the transparent smoke enveloping the entire city, resembling dark clouds. Despite the smoke, the natural light still managed to brighten the run down city.

Draven reached out and held her hand in his and said, "We have to walk around and look for an opening, or else I won’t be able to transform and get us out of here." He began to walk away pulling her along.

Rhea grimaced slightly as she felt his hands around her wrist was holding her too tight, but then she didn’t complain as she thought he was holding on tightly because he was afraid something might happen to her. Thus, she let him hold her as tight as he wanted.

"Draven," she called, and when he hummed softly, she said, "Who is responsible for this spell and the chaos in the human realm? Have you figured it out yet?" She asked curiously.

He nodded, "Yes, Alina is responsible for it."

Rhea felt her heart jump at the mention of Alina. If Alina was responsible for this, it meant she hadn’t given up yet, it would only be a matter of time before she’d seek Draven out for revange. What if she harmed him or even worst kill...No, she would never allow that to happen.

"What are you thinking of?" Draven asked her as if sensing her distress.

"I am thinking about Alina," she admitted, "I am worried that she will come after you to seek revenge for Enzo’s death."

Draven remained silent for awhile on hearing her words. He then said, "And what if she seeks me out?" He asked, but before Rhea could reply, he added, "You know I won’t be able to fight against her. She will kill me because my body lacks my core."

Before Rhea could speak, the earth beneath their feet suddenly started to tremble violently. It split into two making Draven release her hand as a thick swirling black magic smoke began to seep out of the splitted ground.

Rhea watched in horror as the smoke turned into a sharp weapon and pierced Draven’s heart open. Blood flowed out of his nose and mouth as the sharp weapon began to tear his heart open before her eyes. She felt her entire body go numb at the sight of her husband being ripped open.

"Draven..." She murmured softly as her hands and legs began to tremble. She quickly tried to strike the black magic weapon away from Draven, but her own ice magic only ended up hitting Draven and causing him more pain.

Draven’s body shook violently as if he was in extreme pain. More blood flowed out of his mouth as he opened it to speak to Rhea.

"Rhea," he struggled to speak through the pain, "I will die if I don’t have my core. I wouldn’t have asked this of you, but Rhea, would you give me back my core right now if I ask you to?"

Rhea was already a crying mess with trembling body. She couldn’t afford to lose Draven, she would rather die than watch him die before her eyes. Without hesitation, she nodded her head repeatedly, "I...I will give it back to you. I will give it back," she repeated as she reached out for the small dagger she always carried along with her in her ankle.

"Hurry up and give it to me, Rhea." Draven urged her as his face contoured in pain.

Rhea nodded and raised her hand to stab her chest to pull out the core for him. But before the dagger could pierce her chest, a hand reached out and stop her, "Are you out of your senses, my savior!" Lilac exclaimed as she pulled the dagger from Rhea’s hand.

"You want to kill yourself for a fake Mister!" She pointed towards the place Draven had been dying a moment ago and Rhea noticed the spot was empty with only swirling smoke in place of Draven.

Lilac then said, "You are being played, this place is illusion. Don’t just stab yourself when you is not sure about things."